DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.805#0040
[300] PRIMITIVE PICTOGRAPHS AND SCRIPT 31
§ III.—Evidences of a Pictographic Script.
It is impossible to believe that the signs on these stones were simply
idle figures carved at random. Had there not been an object in grouping
several signs together it would have been far simpler for the designer to have
chosen single figures or continuous ornament to fill the space at his disposal.
As it is, single figures or continuous ornament are occasionally introduced on
the vacant sides of stones where it was not necessary to cover the whole
stone with symbolic characters; and in the same way small ornamental forms
are found in some cases filling, for decorative purposes, the spaces between
the symbols. In Fig. 22 one side is purely decorative; in Figs. 27 and 36,
two sides, and such features as the small chevrons in the vacant spaces of
Fig. 31c, or the network behind the designs on Figs. 33a and 34c and d,
are obviously supplementary ornaments. But these extraneous features only
bring out more clearly the fact that the signs themselves are introduced
with a definite meaning, and are in fact a form of script. A method and
intention in the choice and arrangement of the symbols is moreover percep-
tible, quite incompatible with the view that they are mere meaningless
ornaments.
The signs themselves are chosen from a conventional field. Limited as
is the number of stones that we have to draw from, it will be found that
certain symbols are continually recurring as certain letters or syllables or
words would recur in any form of writing. Thus the human eye appears four
times and on as many different stones, the 'broad arrow' seven times, and
another uncertain instrument (No. 16 of the list given in the succeeding
section) as much as eleven times. The choice of symbols is evidently
restricted by some practical consideration, and while some objects are of
frequent occurrence, others equally obvious are conspicuous by their absence.
But an engraver filling the space on the seals for merely decorative purposes
would not thus have been trammelled in his selection.
Two other characteristics of hieroglyptic script are also to be noted. The
first is the frequent use of abbreviated symbols, such as the head for the
whole animal, the flower or spray for the plant. The second is the appear-
ance of gesture-language in graphic form—an invaluable resource of early
pictography for the expression of ideas and emotions. Amongst such may be
noted the human figure with arms held down (Fig. 36&), the crossed arms
with open palms and thumbs turned back (Fig. 316), and, closely allied to
this, the bent single arm with open palm- (Fig. 35^). Such features, again,
as the wolfs head with protruding tongue—also found on Hittite monu-
ments—or the dove pluming its wing, have probably a significance beyond
the mere indication of the animal or bird.
The symbols occur almost exclusively in groups of from two to seven ;
the most frequent however are of two or of three, which seems to show that
the characters thus appearing had a syllabic value. Certain fixed prin-
§ III.—Evidences of a Pictographic Script.
It is impossible to believe that the signs on these stones were simply
idle figures carved at random. Had there not been an object in grouping
several signs together it would have been far simpler for the designer to have
chosen single figures or continuous ornament to fill the space at his disposal.
As it is, single figures or continuous ornament are occasionally introduced on
the vacant sides of stones where it was not necessary to cover the whole
stone with symbolic characters; and in the same way small ornamental forms
are found in some cases filling, for decorative purposes, the spaces between
the symbols. In Fig. 22 one side is purely decorative; in Figs. 27 and 36,
two sides, and such features as the small chevrons in the vacant spaces of
Fig. 31c, or the network behind the designs on Figs. 33a and 34c and d,
are obviously supplementary ornaments. But these extraneous features only
bring out more clearly the fact that the signs themselves are introduced
with a definite meaning, and are in fact a form of script. A method and
intention in the choice and arrangement of the symbols is moreover percep-
tible, quite incompatible with the view that they are mere meaningless
ornaments.
The signs themselves are chosen from a conventional field. Limited as
is the number of stones that we have to draw from, it will be found that
certain symbols are continually recurring as certain letters or syllables or
words would recur in any form of writing. Thus the human eye appears four
times and on as many different stones, the 'broad arrow' seven times, and
another uncertain instrument (No. 16 of the list given in the succeeding
section) as much as eleven times. The choice of symbols is evidently
restricted by some practical consideration, and while some objects are of
frequent occurrence, others equally obvious are conspicuous by their absence.
But an engraver filling the space on the seals for merely decorative purposes
would not thus have been trammelled in his selection.
Two other characteristics of hieroglyptic script are also to be noted. The
first is the frequent use of abbreviated symbols, such as the head for the
whole animal, the flower or spray for the plant. The second is the appear-
ance of gesture-language in graphic form—an invaluable resource of early
pictography for the expression of ideas and emotions. Amongst such may be
noted the human figure with arms held down (Fig. 36&), the crossed arms
with open palms and thumbs turned back (Fig. 316), and, closely allied to
this, the bent single arm with open palm- (Fig. 35^). Such features, again,
as the wolfs head with protruding tongue—also found on Hittite monu-
ments—or the dove pluming its wing, have probably a significance beyond
the mere indication of the animal or bird.
The symbols occur almost exclusively in groups of from two to seven ;
the most frequent however are of two or of three, which seems to show that
the characters thus appearing had a syllabic value. Certain fixed prin-